Service providers generally own and operate a packet-switched network to provide one or more services to customers in accordance with a service profile. The service profile may define minimum bandwidth rates and maximum bandwidth rates for each of the various services to which the customer has subscribed. The service profile may also define latency limits for each of the different services to which the customer has subscribed and any other limits on various characteristics associated with providing the subscribed-to services.
Recently, service providers have begun to offer what are referred to as “multi-play services” to customers over a packet-switched network, where, for example, a service provider may offer a triple-play service to customers that includes a data or Internet service, a telephone service in the form of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, and a television service (which is sometimes provided in the form of an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service).
To enforce the service profiles for each of the customers, the service providers may deploy one or more network devices, such as a broadband network gateway (BNG). The BNG may terminate a customer connection with the service provider network and provide a single point of contact with regard to the customer session such that profiling, management and customer policy enforcement may be possible. BNGs may be deployed in either a distributed or centralized manner. When distributed, the BNGs may be placed toward the edge of the service provider network. This more proximate location of the BNGs may facilitate bandwidth profiling across the various services and provide for better management of customer traffic, particularly, when this traffic is multicast to the customer's network. Multicast traffic is becoming increasingly more common considering that more service providers are beginning to deliver television services via an IPTV service rather than as a dedicated service separate from data services. However, decentralized or distributed BNGs are difficult to administer considering that the BNGs may be distant from one another rather than centrally located. Moreover, in this decentralized deployments, the service provider may require more BNGs than in centralized deployments considering that BNGs may be deployed in less populated areas that may not fully utilize the BNG, therefore wasting capacity that may otherwise have been used in a centralized deployment. Requiring more BNGs may increase costs, leading many service providers to opt for a centralized BNG deployment.
In this centralized BNG deployment, the BNGs are located in a central office and are logically connected to each customer network via one or more customer virtual local area networks (C-VLANs) or one or more C-VLANs and one or more multicast-VLANs (M-VLANs). While the centralized BNG deployment models may reduce costs, these centralized models may suffer from difficulties in accurately monitoring and profiling bandwidth with respect to each customer network. Moreover, in the centralized BNG model involving only C-VLANs, bandwidth may not be utilized efficiently as multicast traffic, such as IPTV traffic, is replicated for each C-VLAN at the centralized BNG rather than further downstream, as would be the case in centralized BNG deployments that utilize M-VLANs in addition to C-VLANs to connect with customer networks. As a result of not being able to accurately profile customer bandwidth utilization, service providers may not be able to police or otherwise enforce the service profile in the centralized BNG models with the result that customers may either receive more or less bandwidth than that provided for in their associated service profile.